The History of Piercing
Piercing is not new! Primitive tribes have been discovered in remote areas of the Philippines Islands that dated back to early civilization, perhaps from the Stone Age era. They lived in caves, forged for their food, and had few crafts. Descendants of these tribes still exist today and live still like their forefathers. Many tribe members had and still, have their ears pierced. Possibly for ornamentation, they wear rings of rattan hanging from their earlobes.
Anthropologists agree the piercing urge dates back to the earliest accounts of the human race. This urge is not confined to one culture and when it started to faze out, it emerged elsewhere. Methods have varied widely and so have the reasons. For many, one reason was to adorn the human body. And in other areas of the world and time, piercing was a ceremony, in which a child became an adult.
Many areas of the body have been used as piercing, the ears, nose, nipples, mouth, belly button, and genitals. Genital piercings were primarily done to enhance and heighten sexual pleasure for one or both partners. For others, genital piercings were done to restrict sexual activity altogether. But whatever the purpose piercings have played a vital role in cultural history.
Piercings have been looked at, in Western Civilization, as shameful and sinful. For the past few hundred years, it has been looked at as being unsophisticated and barbaric. In most areas of the U.S. piercing has been abolished as any religious rite. However, the Dakota Sioux did practice a piercing ritual on braves as a religious rite to become an elder of the tribe. Bones were placed through the breast, and then the brave was suspended from the ground for a period of time. The ceremony has been abolished officially, but in some cases and unknowingly still practiced today.
Even though some still look at piercing as being strange, socially there has been a strong movement toward the expression of our humanity. People are once again rediscovering the delights of piercing that was previously known only to our ancient ancestors.
Piercings are generally permanent, however, they have been known to grow shut over an extended period of time. Make sure you really want them as they will cause scarring.
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See Piercing for an index of other articles |
| Articles related to Body Modification | |
|---|---|
| Addition to Tissue | |
| Modification of Tissue | |
| Removal of Tissue | |
| Genital Modification | |
| History | |
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